Season of the Runer Book I: The Trial of Two

By: Abigail Linhardt

Narrated by: Aaron Smith

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

The endless road and life of a monster-hunting Runer has gone stale for Tzarik and death is the only alternative. Tired of risking his life for the prejudiced people of Al’Myrah, it’s time to just let go. The only thing that stands in his way: A Runer cannot take his own life, breaking his oath to the dark magic that binds him to the hunt.

When a warlord from the far East threatens her family, Sybal, a young diamond mine heiress with a lavish lifestyle, takes action to protect her family and estate. But when her crime is witnessed, she must stand trial for murder. To save her own life, Sybal calls for a trial by Runing - a dangerous and often fatal dark pact with unknown magic.

Thrown together by law and dark magic oaths, Tzarik and Sybal find themselves entangled with an eldritch force when alone necromancer hell-bent on devastation rises up and ravages the Eastern continents. Tzarik must conquer his desire for his own demise and train the empathic Sybal to save the people from a risen death.

©2020 Abigail Linhardt (P)2020 Abigail Linhardt

Get Ready To Root for Tzarik and Sybal!

If you are waiting for Season 2 of The Witcher, Abigail Linhardt has something to hold you over. Best of all, a Season of the Runer sequel is coming pretty soon! As an avid reader of fantasy, I can't wait.

This story is loaded with monsters, dragons, morally grey characters and a wide variety of weird creatures and demons and plenty of intrigue with the novel's co-leads.

I only rated the story 4-Stars because it ended when I didn't want it to end!

If you have a credit waiting to be spent (We've all been there), give this a listen.

Great Story and Performance

Very enjoyable story. I really liked the two main characters and their hardships they go through

Exciting, fast paced fantasy adventure!

Never a dull moment in the life of a runer! Enter an exciting world of strange sciences mixed with magic, necromancy, and a little bit of charm. A straightforward and fun romp with plenty of action, thrills, and intimidating villains. Fan of the Witcher series? This one might be for you! Tzarik and Sybal are characters you want to win, and the villains are fun, at times a bit campy, and a little mysterious. Sybal is a nice change of pace for a female heroine, being feminine, kind, yet still strong . And even though she makes mistakes she is still likable, Tzarik is a man's man, and a grump - but still human enough to want to keep learning about. If you're a fan of fantasy, this is an easy listen with a very talented narrator! Enjoy!

Amazing narrator!

I have read the Runer Series and love the books. The writing is so well done that you can almost feel the grains of sand hitting your face. Add this fantastic narration to it, and you have a living, breathing scene surrounding you! This is now my favorite series of all time! If there are any Netflix agents out there, this needs to be the next series that you make.

Nice to see a new kind of mystical story.

Easy to follow the storyline. I could imagine it as it happened. Staring book to see what the next adventure brings.. Looking forward to
series, or movie.

Can't wait for book two!

This story is amazing! The colorful characters and plot twists kept me yearning for more. Sword, sorcery, intrigue.. a bit of everything. I'm looking forward to November 2021 when I can get my next fix. Abigail seems like a very talented storyteller and I'm looking forward to reading some of her other works.

A Uniquely Seasoned Runer

This fast paced, low stakes, Witcher-inspired is a good example as to why you don't need a 1000 page tome to tell a nice story and do world-building. The low stakes make for a more personal story of a classic master/apprentice style adventure without having to resort to world-ending bombastics. The two main characters are arguably the least interesting of the cast, but the other characters(more bardy boy if you please), unique setting, and interesting world help cover that. They are not bad characters, just not as intriguing as everything else going on.
Most fantasy novels take place in a "standard fantasy setting" usually involving European-like landscapes and ideas, so I found the arabic inspired desert to be a nice change of pace. The author does a good job at describing the sandy setting, clothing, and character appearance, but not enough is done to flesh out the environments and architecture.
Speaking of pace, the book zips along at a rate that would make the average autobahn driver nervous. While not a problem for the story itself (many novels go too slow for the amount of content they provide), the pace often left me confused as to where characters were or how much time had passed between chapters or paragraphs of travel. There are several prominent cities the characters travel between, but I have no idea how long it takes to get between them or how far apart they are, so characters will be in one city one moment and another city (presumably miles and miles away) the next with little to no time devoted to the travel or a mention of time passing. While not a problem, it did leave me scratching my head for about half the book.
Going in I expected it to be much more Witcher-like, and it was at first, but then it evolved and got it's own feet following characters and a world that I am excited to learn more about in the next adventure. While not a grand adventure of epic proportions, the setting and world are interesting and unique enough to house many more bite-size outings.
And the narrator is great too. He does a fantastic job at breathing life into the downtrodden cast of characters.